400 IN THE WILDS OF SOUTH AMERICA 



Chaco the flocks suddenly dispersed and they disappeared 

 singly in all directions. We found them spending the days 

 in open places — out in the hot sun or rain. The railroad- 

 track, or small plots where there was not even grass, were 

 the favorite sleeping-sites chosen, and sometimes two or 

 three were found together. 



After a week we returned over the route we had come 

 to a station called General Pinedo. This was a new settle- 

 ment and several dozen board huts were being constructed 

 on both sides of the track. Here there were seemingly limit- 

 less stretches of fine pampas with occasional small clumps 

 of red quebracho-woods. Numbers of cattle grazed in 

 the rich grass, and this place was much more attractive 

 than the one we had just left. As might be supposed, the 

 fauna was typical of the open country and included an 

 abundance of short-eared and burrowing owls. The latter 

 sat on fence-posts or on the mounds near their burrows 

 all day long; at night they became very active and flew 

 back and forth over the fields grabbing up beetles and small 

 rodents with their feet. Their long, tremulous screeches 

 pierced the darkness all night long. 



On Sunday all the men congregated at the two rum-shops 

 and tested their capacities for strong drink. Often the 

 day ended in a series of brawls when knives and machetes 

 were plied freely — once with fatal result to one of the com- 

 padres: I asked one of the guards what would be done with 

 the murderer, who had promptly been arrested. He said 

 that if he could give two hundred pesos to the commisario 

 and ten to each of the guards, the matter would be dropped. 

 Later I was told that the matter had been "fixed up" satis- 

 factorily, but of course could not verify this. 



June 14. found us in the village of Lavalle, in the heart 

 of Argentina's desert regions. When the train from Tucu- 

 man pulled out, leaving ourselves and our belongings on 

 the station platform, we at once began to regret that we 

 had come at all. The place looked decidedly uninviting. 

 There was only the small cluster of adobe hovels, while all 



